Irene Teaches New Lessons About Managing Rivers

The
belief that climate change will lead to more frequent flooding, and the
prospect that federal relief efforts will be hobbled by increasing demands was a
major theme at a symposium at the Vermont Law School Friday.

The
discussion took place in the context of the response to Tropical Storm Irene
and what Vermont should do to prepare for future disasters.

The
symposium brought together advocates, government officials and academics. Much of the discussion focused on managing
rivers.

Vermont rivers program manager Michael Kline says Irene
represents a turning point in how the state and communities approach rivers.

Even
so, Kline says 40 percent of the river repairs done after Irene actually
increased the danger from flooding.

Kline
says only recently have officials begun questioning the decades long practice
of dredging, widening and straightening rivers after floods.

Following
Irene, Kline says the state river engineers are working with towns to take a
new approach to managing rivers to better prepare for future floods.

"We
are beginning to look at our flood response differently so that instead of
creating the fire hose effect out of our rivers, we can find out where they can
dissipate some of that flood flow, where they can expend some of that flood
energy," he says.

The
key to that is protecting floodplains and the idea of giving rivers the room
they need to overflow. Kline says Vermont's rivers can no longer access 75 percent of the
floodplain that border them.

That's
largely because of development and the way rivers have been altered. Better local planning can protect existing
floodplains and mitigation programs could help clear out developed areas.

Gavin
Smith is a Research Professor at the University Of North Carolina. After his state was hit by two severe hurricanes it
used a rainy day fund to magnify the effects of the FEMA buyout program and
clear large hog farms and thousands of homes from floodplains. North Carolina also did away with outdated FEMA floodplain maps and
created its own.

Now
the state is taking the next step of planning for the effects of climate
change.

"Things
aren't going to get better, they're going to get worse," Smith says. "And for
us it means more flooding and it could mean more intense hurricanes. So we're actually trying to think through how
we create new maps that look into the future."

Protecting
and expanding floodplain is controversial.
It raises questions about what individuals can do with their land, how
and where communities can grow, and what do about existing floodplain
development.

Chris
Kilian of the Conservation Law Foundation says there needs to be public
dialogue on disaster response, led by the Governor, with an eye toward creating
new policies.

According
to Kilian, "It is right that there is an opportunity right now and there are
discussions that weren't occurring before Irene. But its now time to take advantage of that
opportunity and see real policy change."

Kilian
says Vermont's Act 250 development law needs to be amended to make
climate change a factor in decisions.

Officials
say the state has been working with towns to highlight floodplain protection. To date, 42 towns have adopted stronger bylaws
designed to avoid development in flood vulnerable areas.